Chapter 430: North Africa Initial Settlement (two chapters in one)

Chapter 431 Initial Decision in North Africa (two chapters in one)

Southeast Tunisia.

The province of Tatavin faces the sea on one side and the desert on the other.

Ney stood on a high ground, looking at the town of Remada in the telescope, and said in a deep voice:

"The scout's report is correct, the terrain is indeed very suitable for the regiment to deploy.

"If we launch an attack tomorrow morning, we will be able to recapture this town around noon."

"You are always so full of courage and energy." Moreau smiled on the side, "But my suggestion is that it is best not to attack there first."

Ney looked at him doubtfully: "Why not? There are only 2,500 Ottomans in the town, and we have 4,000 soldiers. The battle will be over soon."

Moreau nodded: "Yes, yes, win easily and recapture an insignificant town. Maybe we should also send people to Tripoli and politely inform the Ottomans, 'Hey, your French friends are here.' ”

Ney paused upon hearing this. Indeed, as he said, an attack on the enemy forces in Remada would surely alarm Tripoli. There were nearly 10,000 Ottoman troops stationed there.

My mission this time is to completely wipe out Benjiour. If I storm the city of Tripoli, which is already prepared for defense, it will probably be a very difficult battle.

Moreau patted him, then pulled the reins to make the mount turn its head:

"We've finished watching the battlefield, let's go back first."

Ney glanced at this hateful nobleman, urged his horse to follow him, and had to ask again:

"Then what are your plans?"

Moreau did not hide it from his upright partner:

"You see, although we have 4,000 people, half of them are new recruits who have never been on the battlefield. Some of your soldiers even lack the necessary training."

Their last unexpected victory in the town of Tamirai resulted in a fiefdom. Afterwards, the nobles stimulated by the news rushed to Tunisia to "pursue glory." As for the civilian side, the General Staff Headquarters has opened a "quick training camp" that can provide 5 months of simple training for those who have no experience but intend to join the army, and then they can go to serve in areas where the fighting is not fierce. For those who have participated in night patrol teams and rural security teams, the training time can be reduced to 2 months. 【Note 1】

These "new blood" came to Tunisia on naval transport ships. Joseph directly handed them over to the command of Moreau and Ney, and put them in charge of the battle against Tripoli. However, Berthier was still not reassured, so he sent an experienced staff officer to assist the two young commanders.

Moro continued: "With such a force to attack Tripoli, it is difficult to predict what will happen."

Ney muttered under his breath: "When our cannon arrives, everything will be no problem."

Yes, Moreau has more than a dozen noble young men who can operate cannons - they came directly from the military school. Currently, this young regiment not only has artillery, but also has as many as 1,200 cavalry. The ratio is simply ridiculously high. Most of them were aristocratic classmates brought out by Moro from school, but they suffered a lot from the Tunisian local government who was responsible for their logistics.

Moro nodded: "Cannon can solve some problems, but if Benjiul's main force can be allowed to leave Tripoli, things will be much simpler."

Surprise flashed in Ney's eyes: "You must have thought of a way!"

Although he didn't like this cunning noble, he still recognized this guy's mind.

"I'm not absolutely sure, but I can give it a try."

Morrow said, looking eastward: "Ah, my lovely fief, I don't know how much output it produces every year."

Ney glanced at him disdainfully and murmured in a low voice: "Do all nobles have such greedy faces?"

At noon the next day, Moreau "requisitioned" a large amount of supplies from the nearest town, Mede, but these items had nothing to do with combat, including expensive clothing, jewelry, handicrafts, spices, etc. Under his forced order, Mede was almost completely evacuated.

If he had not sent soldiers to block the town hall, Mede's officials would have gone to the governor to complain.

The old staff officer sent by the General Staff was so frightened that he couldn't help but persuade Moreau to return the things quickly, otherwise he would be subject to a military court. Ney was accustomed to his partner's illegal operations, but this time he repeatedly stated to local officials that the matter had nothing to do with him and was all the fault of an officer named Moreau.

Returning to the camp of the "God's Guidance" Cavalry Regiment, Moreau called on the noble soldiers to donate all their belongings, promising to return them immediately after the battle in Tripoli, with an additional 40% interest.

After some preparations, a luxurious caravan consisting of seventeen or eighteen carriages left Mede and rushed towards the Gudamis tribe in the oasis to the south.

The caravan arrived carelessly near the town of Remada in the southernmost part of Tunisia. Seeing that it was getting late, they camped on the spot to rest.

Not surprisingly, the Ottoman cavalry who occupied the town of Remada soon discovered this "fat sheep" during their patrol and immediately returned to the town to report.

A few hours later, nearly a thousand Ottoman soldiers swarmed in, quickly defeated the caravan's guards and snatched the carriage.

The leading officer was overjoyed when he heard the soldiers' report on the loot - a rough estimate was that the value of this cargo was close to 100,000 rials!

Soon, he learned from the captured merchants that this was only the first batch of goods from an Italian caravan, and nearly seven times more goods would arrive at Tatawan Port in half a month.

However, the value of the goods was high, and the number of guards was even greater. According to the merchant, the Italian caravan hired French regular troops to escort it, and the number of people might be more than one regiment, that is, nearly 2,000 people.

The officer immediately transported the loot back to the town and sent someone to send the news back to Tripoli.

In the white palace of Tripoli, Benjiul heard that there were goods worth 700,000 rials that would land in Tataouine, and his eyes lit up immediately.

700,000 rials, that is more than 15 million livres! This is a huge sum of money that any warlord cannot help but be tempted by.

Especially after the British had only paid a small half of the "benefit" of 100,000 pounds promised before, and suddenly there was no follow-up, this almost killed him.

The army in his hands was sent from Istanbul. If they could not provide them with enough benefits, they would not mind replacing one of their own to be the Pasha of Tripoli - this is a tradition in the Ottoman Guards, and they even replaced the Ottoman Sultan many times.

After a brief hesitation, Benjiul made a decision to lead 6,000 soldiers and 2,000 people from Remada to Tataouine Port to rob.

He had received news not long ago that the main force of the French army was fighting the Algerians in Annaba, more than 400 miles away, which means that Tataouine only had less than 2,000 troops.

Tataouine Port is only about 70 miles away from Tripoli City, and it can be reached in a week if you walk fast.

He should be sure to win if he leads 8,000 troops to raid.

After robbing the 700,000 rials of goods, he will take out part of it to bribe the high-level officials in Istanbul, and retreat to Tripoli City with the rest. If the situation is not right in the future, he will leave the task of defending the city to his subordinates, and he will flee back to Istanbul to enjoy himself.

Four days later.

Benjiul looked back at the wasteland behind him, and his heart could not suppress his excitement. This is already in Tunisia. His scout cavalry reported that no trace of any army was found until Med.

According to the Tripoli Navy, a large merchant caravan had recently departed from Genoa and headed south.

Moreau was too lazy to lie about the fleet - the Mediterranean trade was prosperous, and countless merchant ships traveled between Italy and North Africa every day. Benjiul would naturally "claim" one of the fleets as his target.

When Benjiul's troops reached a hilly area near Med, they suddenly heard chaotic shouts from the front.

He frowned and looked at the officer beside him: "What happened?"

The marching column was too long. He was in the middle and rear of the troops, nearly two kilometers away from the vanguard.

Before the officer sent cavalry to investigate the situation, Benjiul vaguely heard a burst of dense gunfire.

He also had some battlefield experience, and immediately judged that there were at least thousands of enemy troops firing in unison.

Where did this enemy come from? He hurriedly ordered the troops to deploy a formation defense on the spot, and personally organized the cavalry to line up to prepare for the battle.

However, before his cavalry gathered together, the ground began to tremble slightly, and then there was the sound of horse hooves like a torrential rain hitting the roof.

All the Ottoman soldiers were stunned and looked in the direction of the sound. Not long after, a large number of cavalrymen in white uniforms emerged from the hills in the distance, waving sabers and rushing towards this side.

In front of the Ottoman army, Ney commanded an infantry line of more than 2,000 soldiers, and was approaching the enemy step by step in an orderly manner.

Thanks to the sufficient preparation time this time, he was finally able to get these new soldiers to line up in an orderly manner.

In the era of flintlock rifles, it was impossible for a marching line to beat a neat infantry line, even if Frederick the Great was reborn.

After only three very irregular volleys, the Ottomans began to flee in all directions.

At the same time, more than a thousand cavalrymen on Moreau's side had already broken through Benjiul's rear team and were turning their horses to line up.

Benjiul looked at the soldiers around him who were already in chaos, closed his eyes in despair, and then pulled out a pistol from his waist...

Outside Tripoli.

Moreau put down the telescope, pointed to a large piece of farmland on the southeast side of the ancient city, and said to Ney happily:

"Look, that's my fiefdom."

He turned a little to the south: "Ah, that should be your fiefdom. It seems that we will be neighbors for a long time in the future."

Ney frowned and interrupted him: "Cannon! Can't you care about when those damn cannons will be delivered?"

Although Benjiul was dead, the Ottoman army in Tripoli was not his direct line, and soon introduced a new commander to continue to defend the ancient city.

Without the help of cannons, it is really not easy to attack.

"Celestine!" Moreau turned and shouted, "Go see where the damn cannons are!"

While he turned his head, Ney picked up the telescope and took a quick look in the southeast direction, and suddenly his heart was excited: God! That's really a good piece of land, it looks much more fertile than the land in my hometown!

More than an hour later, the long-awaited cannon finally appeared under the city of Tripoli.

As the cannon sounded, the soldiers of the legion rubbed their hands, their eyes glowed green - as long as they could capture Tripoli, they would also have a good chance of getting a piece of nearby land.

As soon as there was a small gap in the formation of the Ottoman defenders, several companies of soldiers rushed up enthusiastically accompanied by the rumbling of cannons...

Indian Peninsula.

Salem, a city east of Mysore.

On a luxurious sedan chair carried by more than 20 people, Tipu Sultan sighed again, looked at the vaguely visible river in the distance, and said in a melancholy tone:

"I really hope you can stay here. You helped Mysore achieve a great victory."

Lafayette also sighed:

"I don't want to leave beautiful Mysore, but you know, the British are instigating their servants to invade our Tunisia, and I have to go back to fight them."

Of course, this is just an excuse. In fact, the battles including Annaba and Tripoli have ended at this time, and he should go straight to the Palace of Versailles to attend the promotion ceremony after returning.

His letter of appointment as "temporary assistant to the minister of war" has been signed by His Majesty the King. This time his performance in India was standard and caused great losses to the British, but he did not complete the task of "defeating the British", so the word "temporary" was added before the position.

But this was already a high-ranking official, and he could imagine the fawning looks of those nobles who used to look down on him.

"Damn the British!" Tipu Sultan angrily slapped the armrest, then shook his head and said, "I have to deal with these demons alone in the future."

Lafayette remembered the instructions of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and whispered:

"Don't worry, there will definitely be other friends to help you."

Tip Sultan's eyes lit up immediately:

"What do you mean?"

Lafayette moved closer:

"All weapons, raw materials for casting cannons, medicines, gunpowder, and military uniforms, etc., will be shipped from the Ottoman direction. But the price will be slightly higher than before."

Ottoman is Mysore's traditional trading partner, and there are a large number of fleets traveling between them. These offshore merchant ships sail along the coastline, flexible and hidden. Even if the British fleet fills the Indian Ocean, it is difficult to stop them.

"Great!" Tipu Sultan was delighted. "The price is not important."

Mysore has a population of 18 million and has been doing business with Europe for a long time, so the treasury is very abundant.

Lafayette continued: "There are two more things you must remember."

"Please tell me." Tipu Sultan immediately sat up straight.

"First, you must store a large amount of food in major cities such as Mysore, Seringapatam, and Salem, and preferably ammunition."

[Note 1] The nobles of this era generally had to learn skills such as riding, swordsmanship, and hunting from an early age. After adulthood, they could only train in formations, commands, etc., and then they would have basic combat capabilities. Of course, there are always lazy or unconventional guys who are unwilling to learn these, but they will also be looked down upon by other nobles.